This is the book we've all been waiting for! The Mark Twain Forum needs
a reviewer for the following book:
Twain, Mark. _Adventures of Huckleberry Finn_. Introduction by
Justin Kaplan; foreword and textual addendum by Victor Doyno. New
York: Random House, 1996. Pp. xxviii + 418. Paper, 7-3/8" x
9-1/4". Illustrations by Edward Windsor Kemble (from the first
ed.). Tentative price $25.00. ISBN 0-679-44889-6. To be
published 1 May 1996.
The copy I have is a paperback, advance uncorrected proof, which itself
should become a nice collector's item. When the book is published in
May, apparently it will be in a cloth binding.
The announcement from Random House provides details about the new
edition:
The publication of this new and comprehensive edition of
_Adventures of Huckleberry Finn_ is a major literary event. It
makes available four episodes from the recently discovered first
half of the original manuscript--found in a California attic after
having been lost for over a century--that reveal Mark Twain had
originally intended the novel to be even more controversial and
acerbic than the version he published in 1885.
This new edition includes reproductions of 29 of Twain's
handwritten manuscript pages that expose scores of other changes
made in the text, allowing the reader, in essence, to read over the
author's shoulder as he writes and revises.
Writing for the lay reader in 30 pages of enlightening notes, Twain
scholar Victor Doyno also discusses why Twain made the changes he
did, how they reflect the evolving seriousness of the novel and the
development of Huck and Jim as characters, and what the alterations
reveal about Twain's own social and political attitudes. These
include the darker circumstances of Pap's death, the debate over
literacy and voting that was raging as Twain wrote the book, and
the author's feelings about race.
The four episodes are:
- A completely new scene between Huck and Jim, the runaway
slave, set in a cave which gives vital information about Jim's
personal history, shows Twain developing Jim's character and
dialect, and is, according to Doyno, the best ghost story
Twain ever wrote. (pp. 62-65)
- The raftsmen's passage, originally cut in order to make _Huck
Finn_ the same size as _Tom Sawyer_ so they could be sold as a
two-volume set, now restored in its original vigor and
earthiness. (Twain used a tamer version of this scene in
_Life on the Mississippi_.) (pp. 112-129)
- An expanded version of the religious camp meeting that
includes the then-outrageous and volatile description of a
slave woman in the throes of religious fervor embracing white
men. (pp. 177-181)
- A satirical passage that jabs at Christians who donate money
for distant heathens--their appeal increased by their
remoteness--while ignoring those nearby in need of help and
salvation. (pp. 166-167).
As part of the publicity for this new edition, Vic Doyno is available
for interviews, and the Forum reviewer should take advantage of this
opportunity, and integrate relevant and interesting aspects of the
interview into the review. (After a reviewer for the book has been
determined, I will arrange for the interview.)
As usual, the review must be of publishable quality, and it would be due
within two months of your receipt of the book (i.e., mid-May 1996). The
deadline is particularly important, as we are making every effort for
Forum reviews to appear before print reviews. If you are inclined to
procrastinate, please don't offer to review the book.
If you're interested in writing this review, please send me both your
home and institutional mailing addresses and phone numbers. If I don't
already know you, it would be helpful for you to explain in what respect
you're qualified to write this review. (If we haven't exchanged e-mail
recently, it might be a good idea for you to remind me of this info.)
I look forward to hearing from you.
Taylor Roberts <[log in to unmask]>
Coordinator, Mark Twain Forum